Category Archives: Cooking Classes

Menu:

Mountain Caviar with Crackers

Rubbed Steak Strips with Bloody Mary Tomato Salad

Berries and Scoops of Ricotta with Balsamic-Honey-Mint Syrup

Keep the Fourth of July celebrations going with this vibrant menu of gifts from the farms in southwest Virginia. A perfect backyard menu, everything can be made ahead and presented to your guests within 20 minutes – you, the picture of a composed and graceful host!

Mountain Caviar; began life as Texas Caviar, developed by Helen Corbitt as a New Years Eve good luck side dish. Legend has it, she wasn’t fond of this legume, so she made them pickled and that was that. Later versions added stuff, like bell peppers and cilantro, but the field peas were left whole. The one we made in class has some of the ingredients roughly chopped in a food processor, some of the whole black-eye peas are left whole, for auld lang sine, but chopping the base product makes the dip more chip-friendly – you won’t be finding black-eye peas under your couch.

Garnishes: the last class we made Quick Pickles, the spicy pickled summer squash would be a nice touch around the side of the platter. I wish I’d thought of that last night when I was plating. I’ve got several jars left in the fridge…sigh.

Preparation

Arrange shredded romaine lettuce, and sliced celery on a large chilled platter. Sprinkle with table salt and black pepper to taste. When ready to serve, add tomatoes. Drizzle with desired amount of Bloody Mary Vinaigrette. Place Rubbed Steak Strips over tomatoes. Top with celery leaves. Serve immediately with remaining vinaigrette.

Place steaks on a large rimmed baking sheet; season with seasoning blend. Mix sugar and next 3 ingredients in a small bowl; rub all over steaks. Cover; refrigerate 1-3 hours.

Let steaks stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Blot them a bit.

Build a medium-hot fire in a charcoal grill, or heat a gas grill to high. Brush grates with oil. Grill to desired doneness, about 5-7 minutes per side for medium-rare. Let rest for 10 minutes. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Let cool; cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before slicing.

We didn’t have a grill worth a shucky-darn, so knowing the handicap, we seared the steaks in a heavy pan, flipped them, and slammed them into a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 5 minutes.

Let the meat rest for about 6 minutes, then slice thinly.

Bloody Mary Vinny

Make this vinny “to taste” – the ingredient measurements are more for general proportions than a rule.

Yield: Makes about 1 cup

originally from Southern Living

Ingredients

1/2 cup spicy Bloody Mary mix – we used Tabasco brand, medium

1/4 cup olive oil – for a thicker dressing, add more oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon prepared horseradish

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon hot sauce

3/4 teaspoon celery salt – we used more of the Food City Steak & Burger seasoning salt here.

Berries and Scoops of Ricotta with Balsamic-Honey-Mint Syrup

berries with balsamic-honey-mint reduction

Recipe courtesy of Food Network Kitchen

Total Time: 10 min

Prep: 10 min

Yield:4 servings

Level:Easy

Directions

Boil 1 cup balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons honey and a sprig of mint in a small saucepan until syrupy, about 7 minutes. Cool the syrup slightly, then drizzle over sliced strawberries and/or blackberries and ricotta.

It’s occurred to me I’d like to help people feel at ease in the kitchen. I also wondered why people spend more time in the gym than in the kitchen.

I think people are intimated by the pots, pans and (worse thing of all) criticism. Maybe a little of the clean-up too is disturbing.

Preparing multi-meals for many in a short span of time is what I do. I’ve learned – the hard way – how to do the planning, shopping, and cooking in a relaxed, easy manner that takes away the arrgh. It’s called Zen-Flow Cooking Method.

The first part of September, I taught a class in The Method at Southwest Virginia Higher Education center as a part of the “Cooking Along the Crooked Road” series. I’ve attached the syllabus in pdf format in this blog. Print these out, shop it and follow along. If you’ve any questions, ask here. B.

Oh, yeah. The above link takes you to the class information. I’m teaching another class coming up in October.

Why does Zen-Flow Method make cooking a week’s worth of food so much more fun?

Simple – it beats any other organized system in ease of menu preparation and ease in cooking! The Zen-Flow Method is the only recipe management system that allows you to focus on the actual meal “doing”. Sarah Lang, a personal chef in Minneapolis, MN writes: “The choreography we perfected works fantastically, as do many of your recipes I have adopted. 🙂 I am forever grateful to you for teaching me so much! ”

Do you know how to prepare 12 elegant, complex, foodie-style meals while focusing on the immediate task at hand (or under knife) with eyes closed and Jedi-like precision hit the target and have meals at hand for your week? You see yourself sitting down sharing the meal you’ve prepared with TLC? I’ve seen how to do this and I’m going to show you.

I’m so excited to invite you to this first class in the series of meal planning using the Zen-Flow Method at the Southwest Virginia Center for Higher Education, Monday, September 9, 2013 6P-9P

September

Celebrate the Kids Back in School!!

Zen-Flow Method | 12 All-Gluten-Free Family Meals in 3 Hours.

Wow! What to do during all that free time in the day while the kids are in school? Carve out a 3 hour slot to cook up a batch of meals. Just imagine what you could do with those hours stretched out over the week! These are three full menus, serving 4 hungry folks. If you’re inspired, shop for the additional menu items when you pick up the kids. Your meals are ready to heat and eat, no stress required.

WOOPS! We’ve adjusted the price of this class. A GREAT value at $22!! Please make plans to join us and cook up a storm!

Please Join Us!

Kitchen Confidence Cooking Class

Hosted by

Musick Chiropractic

&

Kimberly Sharman Evans of Moveable Feast Personal Chef Service

&

Beth Wright of Beth and the Biscuit Personal Chef Service

Kitchen Disobedience

For an evening of a little class and a lot of cooking!

We’re hosting a convenience food shake-up dinner by taking an attractive stir-fry from the frozen section of the supermarket and remaking it fresh & tastier with a lot less sugar, fat, and salt, no preservatives PLUS we’re making it Gluten-free AND we’re going to show you exactly how we do it!!

Menu:

Slightly Spicy Chicken and Vegetable Stir-fry in Sesame Sauce on top of Brown Rice Noodles